The Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional & External Affairs (CIVEX) is responsible for coordinating the Committee of the Regions' work on issues which include justice and home affairs, fundamental rights and freedoms, smart regulation and the reduction of administrative burdens, citizenship and broader institutional issues such as governance and devolution. The Commission also intensively deals with the Union's external dimension, focusing on neighbourhood and enlargement countries, and decentralised cooperation for development.

Opinions currently in discussion

The Stockholm Programme, which has underpinned the development of policies in the fields of justice and home affairs since 2010, expires at the end of 2014. Discussions have started on what will follow. Based on input from the European Commission, th...

The European Commission has recently published its annual communication concerning EU enlargement together with its country reports. The Commission Strategy Paper allows the European Council to define the main strategic orientations on enlargement at...

The European Commission is taking action to improve Union-wide prosecution of criminals who defraud EU taxpayers, by establishing a European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), foreseen in Article 86 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.

The European Commission has proposed making it easier and more attractive for non-EU national students, researchers and other groups, such as school pupils, trainees, volunteers and au pairs, to enter and stay in the EU for periods exceeding three mo...

The Citizenship Report, a triennial obligation of the European Commission under art. 25 TFEU, aims at assessing progress towards ensuring the effective exercise of EU citizens' rights through the implementation of the actions announced in the 2010 EU...

Recognising the unique role of local authorities in development policy and based on an extensive consultation process in the EU and in third countries, the European Commission has proposed an updated framework of reference for EU support to Local Aut...

The opinion refers to the European Commission's communication on "Global Europe: A New Approach to financing EU external action" and subsequent regulations which help to provide a more holistic perspective and more coherent EU development policy.